A powerful new class of therapeutics, known as recombinant attenuated Salmonella vaccines (RASV), holds great potential in the fight against fatal diseases including hepatitis B, tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid fever, AIDS and pneumonia.

Now, Qingke Kong and his colleagues at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, have developed a technique to make such vaccines safer and more effective. The group, under the direction of Dr. Roy Curtiss, chief scientist at Biodesign's Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, demonstrated that a modified strain of Salmonella showed a five-fold reduction in virulence in mice, while preserving strong immunogenic properties.

Their findings appear in the cover story of the current issue of the Journal of Immunology. "Salmonella Synthesizing 1-Monophosphorylated Lipopolysaccharide Exhibits Low Endotoxic Activity while Retaining Its Immunogenicity" ( http://www.jimmunol.org/gca?gca=jimmunol%3B187%2F1%2F412&submit=Get+All+Checked+Abstracts )